Conflicting versions: Woman says she ‘made up’ accusations of rape

Earlier, she had filed a complaint with the police of allegedly being raped by four men.

SUKKUR: A woman who had earlier alleged that she had been raped by four men near village Sheroja situated on Saturday retracted her accusation the next morning.

According to reports, the beggar woman, P*, was returning home when a group of men intercepted her and dragged her to a nearby farm at gunpoint where they allegedly raped her. The victim later went to Salehpat police station to file her complaint, in which she named four people. Acting on her petition, police arrested one of the accused, Arbelo Shaikh, while the other three were still at large.

According to the Salehpat police station SHO, Mohammad Khan Sial, the victim had visited the police station on Saturday to complain about the incident. He added that she visited the police station again in the morning and changed her statement, telling the police that she had falsely accused the men of rape after having a minor scuffle with them. Following this, the SHO offered to take her to the hospital for a medical check-up but she refused the offer.

According to sources, the victim had visited the police station on Saturday evening and sworn on a copy of the Holy Quran that she had been raped by the named people. They added that the woman had changed her statement, either due to pressure from the police or the accused, during the night. Arbelo Shaikh was still in custody till the filing of this report.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2013.